Why you shouldn't burn anyone at the stake today...

The title was funny. Oliver Burkeman had blurbed it. The cover was pretty. I'm not ashamed to admit that's why I picked it up.

But, once I started reading, I liked it even more.

In 'Don't Burn Anyone At The Stake Today', Alderman's main premise is that we live in the information age. The 'age' we are in, influences who we are as humans, our behaviours, our beliefs, our actions, and interactions.

She repeatedly comes back to the thread of how technology turns us away from each other and towards our screens:

• In the case of the apprentice learning a trade, this can be helpful and freeing. They could go from years of learning on the job under a master to a manual, a course book, an online video, and now AI to answer questions.

• Activists for minority groups can share their experience in a blog once, rather than having to 'do the work' of educating people one at a time.

• We all have the opportunity to leave a legacy and be known through our photos, videos, social media posts, and comments.

But we value our elders less, as they no longer hold our stories, the internet does. "writing, then printing, then the internet makes us need the contents of everyone's brains less. So it encourages us to respect each other less, talk deeply to each other less, trust each other less" (p.99).

But it's harder to change our minds as things we believed ten years ago can resurface to haunt us. Text of any form. They stay the same. "People can change as we interrogate ideas. Texts can't" (p.47).

Individualism has increased as we access information for ourselves and trust our own judgment more than others. "reading fosters individualism" (p.46)

We dehumanise people, particularly online and even more so with AI and bots everywhere. Technology "tempts us to treat people online as if they might be disposable, unfeeling computer creations, even if they really are people."

"Our information technologies are so good that they make us turn away from actual people and moment to moment experience of life as it happens" (p.102)

Practical tips.

• Engage politically.

• Find truth when you can.

• Design systems that reflect what we do in person to see the whole person, not a sound bite. Encourage more good internet use, less bad, whatever that means. Find or make things that help us navigate online and simplify information so we don't get overwhelmed and don't get distracted by misinformation (118).

• Take people's emotions seriously. Their opinions less so.

• Use libraries and protect institutions that value and work towards truth.

• Campaign against addictive tech. We have to have a smartphone for parking, doctor's appointments and to pay bills, but we also want the ability to have the most addictive parts turned off - "it should be simple to reclaim our attention, and obvious that most people want to".

• Be with people.

• Go first. Go positive.

• Ask: "Is it true? Or do I just want it to be true?" before posting and re-sharing online.

• Consider if the information you access is actionable or makes you feel worse, "afraid, angry, or out of control".

  
  

Predictions

In the future, she predicts more conflict and the need for more ways to manage the information we have. She's hopeful in the long run. Perhaps not so much in the short run.

It's all about thinking together online, and it's messy;

The concern is "everyone being tremendously independent and being able to do everything alone leads to loneliness" (p.100).

Tips for debate.

• "Don't let the worst of the other side has done become the new low bar for your own behaviour."

• Engage privately with people. Not every debate has to be in public. In the comments, message privately, ask if that's what they really meant.

• Believe there are useful truths on both sides of the disagreement. Try and find them.

• Aim to not insult or berate someone today. The next generation will likely read it.

• State your values. Try and live by them in person and online.

• "Never talk about a culture war topic with anyone who only wants to talk to you about that topic" (p.133).

• A real debate will only be helpful and productive if it happens as part of a relationship.

This is one of those books I'm really glad I took the time to read, reflect on and take notes. Naomi Alderman's intellect is clear, yet delivered in a very accessible and witty style. Her endnotes show that the argument she covers doesn't really touch on AI, but all the ideas apply in that space too. That may be a book for another time.

I loved how current it was too - to see ideas from 2026 appear in the book in 2026 might date it quickly, but it also felt very relevant to the current moment and mood, It really struck a chord with me and I highly recommend it!